#I'm a reader and a cheerleader for writers not a writer myself lol

[spocksbedsidemanner]

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[skyward-floored]

Do you have a beta reader read everything you write before you post it?

I always need someone to read what I write before I post it. I need someone else to tell me I did good, but that drags out the process and then…what if I just told myself it was good enough? Isn’t that enough? If it’s good enough to me then it’s just good enough, right?

I don't actually! I only have one fic where I have a proper beta reader (thank you Tellie mwah) but otherwise I am my own beta. I obsessively reread anything I write before I post it and that's the reason why my writing takes forever *dead-eyed stare*

For real though? If it is good enough for you... then it's good enough. That's it.

Writing fic is supposed to be fun (which I very very easily fall into the trap of forgetting about but it is), and as long as you're having fun, you're doing it right, silly as that sounds.

It is sooooo hard to tell yourself it's good enough though. Because honestly? I'm a horrible perfectionist when I write. I've gotten better at teling myself "it doesn't have to be perfect, it's good enough", but it's still such a struggle. I get it. I had a panic attack when I posted my first fic three-ish years ago, and I still have to fight with the voice in my head constantly telling me all my writing is trash.

But all that being said... if you need a friend to read what you write before you post it, there's nothing wrong with that! It can be really helpful to have that, especially if you want help with grammer or phrasing and things (or just to check for typos lol). Or even if you just need a cheerleader, nothing wrong with that. Support is what keeps me going as a writer, and it's good to have people to encourage you :)

...and this turned out really long and rambly XD But I hope it was helpful.

[vellaphoria]

Hi! For the writer's ask game: 25, 27, and 29 :) Also, I reread Midnight Elegy recently and it's even better then I remembered!

Hello!! :D as;lkdjfa;skldjls I'm glad you enjoyed it enough to reread it! I had such a good time writing that one. Thank you for the incredibly kind words! <3

Answers below the cut:

25. What fic do you wish you got more of a response on? Gethsemane in Winter, probably For context, at one point I wrote a DickTim Earth-3 series because there was a very specific interpretation of the concept that I desperately wanted to read but that didn't exist. So I set out to write it myself, knowing that it probably wouldn't get too much attention, given the number of (accurate) warning tags I slapped on it. I worked hard on it and am proud of the result, but there's still a bit of wistfulness about it because of the nature of incredibly niche things.

Though if anyone is curious enough to look at the part of the map labeled here be dragons, then the series is A Fact or a Weapon, which comes from a wonderfully haunting (and apt, for the fic) line from the poem "We are Hard" by Margaret Atwood:

A truth should exist, it should not be used like this. If I love you

is that a fact or a weapon?

27. What is your most and least favorite part of writing?

My most favorite part is writing descriptions! I tend to be a visual thinker, so I spend a fair amount of time thinking about where things are in a scene, how they would look, and how to describe things in a way that builds the sort of atmosphere I'm going for.

My least favorite part is writing transitions between scenes. I tend to over-write them and draw things out that aren't important to the plot (one reason why everything I write spirals out of control lol). Sometimes it's hard for me to know when it's best to put a scene break in vs. when to do an actual transition via text.

29. What’s your revision or editing process like?

I tend to go chapter by chapter for multi-chapter fics. My first goal is to get the thing written, so I try not to commit to serious revisions unless there's some sort of overarching problem with what I've got.

Revisions start once I have a mostly finished rough draft of a chapter. At that point, I read through it to make sure that I'm not missing anything and then send it to my beta reader so that they can give me a general vibe check (i.e. does it make sense, does it flow right, is the tone consistent/does it work for the fic, spelling and grammar, etc.). They also do a lot of cheerleading which really gets me through a lot of the tougher parts of writing <3 After I have the beta-approved version, I do another pass through for spelling and grammar and probably tweak some things. If it's a chapter, then it probably sits for a bit while I work on other parts of the fic. If it's a oneshot, then I format it for Ao3 and finalize the title and tags that I'm using before posting.

There's also a secret step where sometimes I don't like what I have, so I tear it up and recycle the parts into other things lol (questions are from this list)

[daisynik7]

♯ 𝐔𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐊. by @/jabamin | [nanami/ fluff] this is one of those fics that just makes me love fluffy and kind of domestic settings, especially with a character like kento because man can’t catch a break actually 😭 but for some reason, this fic has been one that gave me a palpable sense of comfort in his comfort and relief, is that crazy idk?

if i could bring you anything, i swear to god i'd bring you peace by @/haikyuuhoo| [geto/fluff] i know my pretty wife is keen to nanami, but this is such a sweet geto fic i simply couldn’t keep this to myself!

nanami’s gym routine by @/callm3senpaii (deactivated) [nanami/smut] lastly kind of a curveball 😭 but i just thought about this post you made in response to this fanart of nanami lifting weights and this just further confirms your genius brain

how it'll be by @/kentomilk | [nanami/ fluff]

so i've been contemplating this since it was posted but this is something i wrote and published and have been debating how to bring it up to you, which should've been easy considering how supportive you've been but anxiety lol 🥲 truth be told you are a key figure in inspiring me to write this because of the fanart of nanami shaving you tagged me in :)

if this is something i continue i'd definitely seek to fine-tune and calibrate my writing style so it's not just word vomit 🫠

but i'd like to thank you for tagging me in that which kickstarted me actually writing and not contemplating as well as for your endless kindness and support of course 🥹

as for my wishlist, i have no preferences! whatever you want to boost/ promote I'm open to it regardless of fandom/ character if you're up to that! 🫶🏼

thea. THEA!!!! I'm screaming, I'm YELLING! I'm going to read and reblog every single one of these fics, thank you so much for participating in the fic swap. I am SO EXCITED to read each and every single one of these, and I am especially excited to read your fic! thank you for sharing, I am thrilled to know that you are writing now and I want you to know that I will continue to be your biggest cheerleader. AHHHH I'm gyrating in my seat, this is the best thing to come home to!

OKAY, enough of my screaming. here are some fics I'd like to recommend to you! I'm going to give you a little bit of everything, so hold on to your damn horses, here we go:

Attack on Titan:

DTF Only by @/mochimooon (nsfw) - this is a completed series and every single part of this is a BLAST. It features a different aot man in each chapter and mochi writes each of them SO WELL. It's smutty, delicious, laugh out loud funny, our reader is fabulous, and just an utter joy to read. Highly recommend! Mochi is a fantastic writer, please go check out their other works in their masterlist, each one is a treat.

Gossip! by @/bloompompom (Eren x f!reader, nsfw) - another fantastic series that is on-going. I think you may be following her already, but if not, bloomy is an incredible writer and I recommend each and every single one of her works (binge her entire masterlist whenever you can, you won't regret it)! This series has me by the fucking THROAT. It's rockstar!eren x pop star!reader, enemies-to-lovers, need I say more? I don't want to give too much away because I think it's better if you just read it for yourself, but I am in LOVE with this series. Constantly on the edge of my seat, salivating for the chapter!

method acting by @/seeingivy (Eren x f!reader, sfw) - yet another fabulous series by another fabulous writer. ronnie always amazes me with her talent. it's an actor!au (can you tell I love my aus?!) full of angst, drama, FLUFF, everything you want in a series. I absolutely love the world-building in this. When you get a chance, please do check out her masterlist because it's a goldmine full of treasure.

Jujutsu Kaisen:

Office Crush by @/todorosie (Choso x f!reader, nsfw) - CHOSO CHOSO CHOSO!!! I love this fic so much, I cannot stress this enough. He is so shy and sweet in this. And I love our reader because she is gentle with him. This is peak romance, it seriously made my heart flutter when I read it. also, spoiler alert: car sex 🤭. IT'S A MUST READ. You may be following her already, but if not, check out Sorin's other works because they're all spectacular.

I mean, I could go on and on with other recommendations, but these are just a few that come to mind that I think you'd enjoy! also, shocking, but I didn't include any Nanami bc I'm trying to change it up a bit lol. Also, apologies if you've already read these!

love you thea!! ♥️ thank you for participating in this!

nikki's first annual fic swap!

[notasapleasure]

Fic Writer 20 Questions

I've been tidying out my likes and remembered @elwenyere's open invitation tags on this, too, so here we go!

sshysmm's works on ao3 (user name is a ref to my old tumblr)

1) How many works do you have on ao3

128 (and I think I'm missing some of the band AU stuff I never moved over from the blog @theartistknownaslymond…)

2) What's your ao3 word count?

1,038,645 words. haha. what the fuck.

3) What fandoms do you write for?

Actively, right now: Star Wars (particularly Andor; previously Rogue One and a few spin-off novels), the Lymond Chronicles, and I do very much intend to return to my fics for And Then We Danced.

I have also written for Ripper Street, The Terror, The Musketeers (don't look! don't look! it's my 'now can i remember how to write fic after over a decade out of fandom fic) and Utopia (another one it would be cool to add to after I get a chance to rewatch).

4) What are your top five fics by kudos?

good god they're all Jyn/Cassian. it's the only big ship I've written for I suppose

Be alright tomorrow (Rogue One, Jyn/Cassian) Hope in the air (Rogue One, Jyn/Cassian) Singer, save our secular souls (Rogue One, Jyn/Cassian) To steal what she never could own (Rogue One, Jyn/Cassian) Delayed gratification (Rogue One, Jyn/Cassian)

5) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to!! Sometimes when I'm deep in the writing hole I just stay away from ao3 so as not to ?? idk?? make myself feel guilty? get distracted? so it can take me a while to respond.

When people are reading updates as I post them I try to respond quicker! I like to respond to acknowledge how grateful I am to people who took the time to read and cheerlead and say something nice. To show I appreciate it and the time they spent on it. If it possibly leads to discussion about what's going on in the fic then so much the better!

6) What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably just Hope in the Air, for sticking with the canon Rogue One ending and leaning into the sense that even if he got to a bacta tank, Cassian's in a pretty bad way. Also Oh sleep! it is a gentle thing (Ripper Street), again for…following canon, dealing with Deborah's decision to stop seeing Reid and Emily's descent into a place where Reid feels he has to have her sent to the asylum.

7) What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Jerott wish-fulfilment!! The ransoun made, the prisoneris redeemit (Lymond Chronicles, Francis/Jerott).

8) Do you get hate on fics?

I don't think I've had any hate on ao3, no. Some blunt comments when I hadn't done my research on aurebesh well enough/resued a plot device, but not hate.

9) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yes? All kinds? Idk, I'm trying to get more creative, though traditionally I think I write emotionally knotty, not-always-satisfying sex that does heavily lifting on the characterisation. And is also hot.

10) Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I haven't posted it on ao3 yet, but there's the Lymond Chronicles 1980s band AU crossover with And Then We Danced, which is just like. The nichest of nichey niches. Can't believe there are like three people who might read it, so it's still not as unpopular as a medieval Icelandic saga au of a niche Andor ship written in the first person. I didn't go out of my way to drive readers away, I swear!!! Please give The Saga of the Coal-biter and the Skraeling a chance, it's my precious baby.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge, lol. I think more people would need to want to read my fics first.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I'm open to it if anyone wants! I have had two podfics made of my works, which has been lovely!

13) Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No, though there was a fun Lymond Pawn in Frankincense AU which started as me and @erinaceina spit-balling about Philippa getting captured by GRM and Khaireddin surviving, and @stripedroseandsketchpads wrote some nice whumpy scenes about it!

14) What's your all time favorite ship?

Oh, usually whatever I'm writing at any given time. Faramir/Éowyn was formative influences, though.

15) What's a WIP you'd like to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I really don't like admitting that I don't think I'll finish something. I do have 17 subscribers(!!??) to a Lord Bateman (Child ballad 53) inspired Rogue One AU (What would you give?) so even though finishing that is very low down my priorities I'd hate to say outright that I wouldn't return to it.

16) What are your writing strengths?

Emotion, description, description of emotion… capturing micro-expressions and little tics that define a character. Because of this I think I'm pretty good at making people in-character even in weird settings. Writing people who aren't good or bad, just flawed and affected by their lived experiences. Creating an atmosphere. Also, when I pull it off, making you laugh one moment at something ridiculous and then sucker-punching you in the gut :')

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

That when I'm asked to think of my strengths I go blank. That I constantly, constantly overthink things when I've posted them in case I wrote something that will be horribly misunderstood or just actively bore established readers into giving up. The fear that what I enjoy writing is so inherently dull no one else will enjoy reading it, that I'm not setting out to 'write fic' but to write something pretentious and beautiful and that's not what anyone reads fic for. Also oh my god I need to learn brevity. Simple plots. Don't overthink the plot Jo. I what-if my plots to death and then find myself disgusted by all the ways they're inadequate. Actually what all this comes down to is a controlling urge in my writing: I want to control every detail of this scene, including where the information is lacking, and I worry that if I leave anything to chance I'll be misunderstood. But at the same time I love ambiguity and gaps and leaving things open to interpretation. Inside me there are two wolves and one adores unanswered questions while the other suffers from a neurodivergent urge to info-dump in order to make sure everything is clear.

18) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I'd love to quote from Umberto Eco's author's note to The Name of the Rose, where he argued with his publisher about keeping Latin dialogue in! Ony my copy of the book is in storage. Also there's the whole…I'm a fan of the Lymond Chronicles. If there isn't untranslated dialogue in at least five different languages why are you bothering? And yeah I very much did learn a language because of a film and then spent a lot of time considering how communicating in this language as opposed to English would affect the dialogue and interactions I was writing. So yes, dialogue in another language when it's properly contextualised is good - not when it's random phrases of unnecessary Space Spanish because someone's exoticising Diego Luna.

19) First fandom you wrote for?

I'm of the generation where it was inevitably H*rry P*tter, if we're talking internet published fanfic. But as a kid I did keep diaries full of drawings and stories about Sandokan the tiger and Bucky O'Hare.

20) Favorite fic you've ever written?

I have like. Post-partum depression about the saga AU right now because seeing it interact with the world makes me doubt myself horribly, but realistically, it's my beloved child. It's just having to carry all my grad school trauma as well as all my past Star Wars fandom trauma and you know what?? It's good enough to do that. It is. It's the first of a trilogy, and I WILL finish the trilogy.

As previously said by elwenyere: Open tags for anyone who would like to play!!! This was very fun: @ me with your answers if you'd like to join. <3<3<3

[monstersinthecosmos]

Kacy! 29, 30, and 48 for the fic writer asks please and thank you ❤️

(writing asks!)

29. What’s your revision or editing process like? !!!!!! I try not to ever edit as I go because I used to be really bad about tinkering and not moving forward, so I kinda like CHARGE AHEAD and get the story done, and if I think of something I want to go back and add, I write it down for an editing note. It also helps to give me fresh eyes when it's time to edit, because if I haven't reread the WIP it kinda helps if my memory is fuzzy and I can be a little more objective.

I also don't do heavy editing because I do the big moves inside my plot outlines. It's very rare that I change my mind on something huge that I have to go back and revise. I'm just constantly using the outline to sketch the story out so when I'm actually writing, all the structural stuff basically is done right the first time. I edit for like typos and flow and stuff. So the process is something like this

Copy editing notes into my notes app on my phone so that I can full screen the story but have the notes available on the littler screen

Change the font! So that your eyes are ON ALERT and the text doesn't look the same as it's looked for weeks while you were writing!

Pick the correct MUSIC TO EDIT TO because I always have songs that are integral to the emotional core of everything I write, so I need to play them while I read/edit as a vibe check to make sure the tone is correct. I always want the reader to feel the way the music makes me feel! So editing music is really important to keep the tone!!!!!!!

JUST START REREADING AND LOOKING FOR STUFF. I am a sloppy typer so I always have a million typos. I look for typos and like, if I reuse the same word/phrase too close to each other.

I do a separate read through for smut scenes to just double check that everyone's limbs are accounted for and no positions got flipped.

I do a ctrl+f for phrases like "a little" and "for a moment" because I know I overuse them lol.

I double check my editing notes in case I forgot something in the moment.

THEN I copy it into Google Docs (I write in Scriv lol) and run the gdocs grammar check because it helps catching sloppy lil mistakes. It will overcorrect you on stylistic choices so don't let it correct everything, but it catches a lot of typos for me.

AND THEN!!!!!! I copy it into https://hemingwayapp.com/ which wiLL READ YOU FOR FILTH AND TELL YOU YOURE STUPID so do not use this tool too seriously. I also often use passive voice ON PURPOSE sometimes so SUCK IT HEMINGWAY but I like to use it to check for dense sentences and just basically skim over and see if anything looks super sloppy.

THEN I POST IT ON AO3 and read it again because I always find more typos after it's posted because the pressure of it being public gives me better vision.

AND FINALLY once it's on AO3 I also have the screen reader read it to me out loud because that lady finds some more typos LOL. Hearing it out loud catches what my eyes don't.

30. Do you share rough drafts or do you wait until it’s all polished?

I very rarely share rough drafts! I usually make my WIPs available to Discord friends to get some cheerleading but I don't publish them. Occasionally I'll share like a WIP Wednesday passage or something if I get tagged or asked but otherwise I keep it TO MYSELF! 48. What do you look for in a beta?

bro I don't use betas lol. My mom Anne Rice told me not to let people edit my work.

Occasionally I use a beta because I need to like for a zine (like you beta'd me once for the horror Sheith zine!) but that's the only times I use one. I just want people to like, be constructive, and I want to be communicated with beforehand so that I know what they're looking for and I can tell them what type of criticism I'm willing to listen to vs. what's off limits.

I don't want to sound dramatic LOL but I had a really traumatizing experience in my first zine where I got beta'd without warning/permission, when they said they'd just be checking for typos, and I got absolutely fucking shredded. Like not a single paragraph in my whole fic was left alone, and the beta had like, rewritten sentences, rearranged sentences in the paragraph, erased stylistic choices, added exposition that I didn't write, and removed a bunch of references I had laid down throughout the story as a motif. It was genuinely like so demotivating and made me feel so fucking terrible about my writing and really fucked me up. I still haven't shared that fic on AO3 because I can't look at it without thinking I'm an incoherent fuckup. AND ALL THAT, AND LIKE ONE SINGLE COMPLIMENT LOL. Like one single thing in the whole fic that the person thought was nice. ashdkjglasdg . Lord I almost packed it in after that lol.

So anyway I don't look for betas, on principle, but if I do ask someone to beta I try to be clear like "Find typos and tell me if something didn't make sense." I don't need someone to like shave down everything that makes the story sound like me or add extra fucking sentences, like. Bro no. lol. And give me lots of compliments so I don't feel like I did a bad job because I don't want to feel like I'm being graded on my homework :(

[coeurify]

Heyoo! Simmie anon here (I should really consider picking an emoji at this point lol)

I wanna say I absolutely LOVE your writing. It's really fun to read, along with several other writers for Ellie on here

I don't know how to say this without sounding weird, but as much as I enjoy the writings it's oftentimes hard to see myself in the partner? Idk, it's just that a lot of writers write Ellie's partner as a hyper-fem, pink overload girl that's probably a cheerleader or part of a sorority or something. Stereotypical "white hyper-fem" girly girl? And I'm far from that. And I don't see those people in Ellie's actual relationships, so it doesn't feel authentic to who she would actually be interested in? Doesn't mean it's not enjoyable in some form, I think I just have an itch that's not being scratched, you know what I mean? I would like to see more of a dynamic between someone a little more like Ellie: headstrong, independent but fears loneliness, but also has their own differences too, like being more girly (even if it's not hyper-girly, just more girly in comparison to her).

I'm sorry I'm totally rambling and you don't have to post this, I just wanted to kinda express that to someone. It's silly, all of this is made up and I have no real reason to feel like I do. So you can completely toss this ask after you read it. It's trash. Anyway, thank you for sharing your work with us ✨

hi simmie anon!!

i totally see what you mean, sometimes its hard to see yourself in fics even if written in second person / y/n fics. i often tried to stray away from too much descriptions of the reader but have noticed myself falling into that femme reader after writing my sorority girl series. I think a lot of it comes from people really liking masc femme dynamics w ellie. i think its imp that people write what they love, so if ppl like writing femme readers i think they should!! but i also get theres lots of it, and isn’t always easy to relate to the fics because of it. i would love to try and write something like you described! ill put it down in my noted and try and come up w something for u and others who wanna see a less hyper fem reader. thank u sm for reading and enjoying my fics, ily

[harringroveheart]

Thank u so much for answering my question. I only wanted to know bc I’m also a writer and I have a loooong fic I’ve been trying to get myself to finish forever & I really look up to you as a writer & was hoping to know so I could try to put aside the same amount of time for myself to write lol. I find keeping motivated difficult but Im not as busy as you (Im even more amazed by you now) Sorry for the weird asks lol you don’t have to answer this

Sorry for the late reply! I was figuring out how to answer this because my advice is useless and an answer assumes that I know how to, uh, write? Like, as a discipline? And...I don't.

Here's what works for me though:

1) External validation -_-

2) Pretend it's your job. When #1 has dried up, the only way I can trick myself into putting time aside to write is by role-playing an aspiring author who is "honing their craft". This usually gets me out of my self-defeating funk of not wanting to write because I think the chapter is going to fall flat or that nobody is even still reading.

3) Blocking out a whole day to write and starting early. I need a lot of momentum to churn out the words and my brain starts getting shit at about 3pm so if I start later in the day I start to get antsy that I'm not being productive enough before the cut off point.

4) Input. Read something you like to get fresh inspiration. My happy place is YA or fantasy with amazing plots and/or characters and totally average writing because I can still enjoy the read but it also pings that little "Oh hey, I could do that" bulb in my ego. I tend not to read fanfic within harringrove while I'm writing because it MAKES ME JEALOUS? Idk how to fix this about myself but I'm working on it. I still read my fave WIPs though because they're in a league of their own <3

Things I would do if I was a savant or a robot person, or if I had no other commitments:

1) Write a full draft (or close to it) before starting to post.

Pros: A lot of readers won't touch a WIP or an incomplete work, or a work they even remotely suspect might get abandoned. (Can't relate. I regularly re-read abandoned WIPs that I prefer over completed works. And I have strong opinions about supporting fanfiction writers while they are trying to write, but whatever.)

Cons: You don't get any feedback and you have to work in the long dark lonely void with only your own faith in your writing to get you through. Without any deadlines or time pressure, you might not be motivated to write as much or as frequently as you should.

2) Update in 3k chunks. This seems to be the sweet spot for updating chaptered fics and getting the best return on investment re kudos and comments.

3) Update regularly. See #2. Two weeks looks to be a pretty good schedule for maintaining momentum and interest and not bleeding bookmarks.

4) Engage with fandom so that people actually go and read your fic and convince other people to read it too. I am incapable of doing this because I'm super duper unfriendly and also I have anxiety so tbh even these anons make me sweat. BUT I think it's probably very fulfilling, especially if you value reblogs/likes.

Good luck with your fic!!! You can absolutely DM me anytime--I'm happy to cheerlead for you :D

And thanks for reading! <3

[kaleidoscopeminds]

okay well you know what i'm here for. give me all the details on in a world of black and white. if you feel like breaking down the jalex spinoff as well i will not say no. i love you sooooooo much my love!!!!! xoxo bella

ok i’m actually so glad you’ve asked me this so i can talk a bit about what went into in a world of black and white, you wanted all the details so this is LONG but here’s how it went down!!!

i got you to write for and i was like eeeek so nervous!!!! i even said to hazel when i got you that i was nervous lol but i was like i just have to write the best thing i can using all of my available skills and that is basically a good memory of Things My Friends Like. i knew i wasn’t going to be able to write a jalex fic (lmao look where that got me) so i looked at your reader preferences and was like ok. friends to lovers lashton college au, lets do that, i just needed a concept to work around! then i was walking home from work one day listening to getaway green and i was like... what if getaway fic? what if getaway fic using the colour thing for a soulmate au? not using the actual story of the song per se but bits and pieces? and i got home and made a planning doc for it. it started with a few notes about soulmate lore, a rough “key moments” list, and a list of things to include for you<3 which looked something a little like:

snapback/flannel/lip ring luke

curly hair glasses ashton

make-up scene

hurt/comfort sick scene w/ tea

side jalex

michael having a crush on jack

luke saying he’s going to commit crimes when he sees ashton playing guitar

ace luke

i sent the planning doc to sam @tirednotflirting who said several wonderful things like “she’s gonna love it” which comforted me that it wasn’t a terrible idea. i also decided i wanted to include some lyrics from the song throughout which i KNEW could be kind of cheesy and jarring but i wanted them in there so i tried to make it make as much sense as i could but it still to make you stop and go oh! yeah!  side note there’s a a more vague one in this bit which i’m not sure anyone actually managed to pick out? when Ashton is sick at the end of that scene: Luke tries not to think how much he likes at he idea of being what Ashton needs. as a loose reference to “keep on tellin' me I'm what you need”

most of it i found quite easy to write, i liked getting to have luke as the sweet boy who is desperate for a soulmate and ashton the slightly pretensious and cynical art student, michael was so fun to write as he always is with my muke friendships and calum who is mentioned very infrequently but has some of my favourite moments: michael hanging off him like a large and cumbersome scarf, and the bit where he says “not you babe” which still makes me laugh! the other thing i loved writing was the pretty colour words. i hadn’t done much of descriptive type stuff and i really did enjoy getting a chance to be a bit flowery and go off on one with some colour symbolism. i’ve always liked writing dialogue which i think is one of my strengths, and i think i’ve grown a lot as a writer since this fic but i do like that i did a bit of that kind of writing here which was out of my comfort zone!

the infamous cheese-ball scene didn’t get written in until quite near the end, i was having a bit of a crisis over the end, i’d written the last scene but i was finding it really tricky to know how to progress between the bit with Ashton finishing his project and the actual resolution and i was like i want some classic drink fueled flirting to get a bit of tension and then i was like.... omg i have an idea.... i had a conversation with the lovely sam who was my biggest cheerleader i love that girl i also at this point had still not decided on luke’s major but i decided to go fuck it and go all in on the pandering<3

we’ve discussed this before about not liking miscommunication and conflict so i didn’t want any of that, and i also hate outside interference in relationships as conflict so i didn’t want that either, but i thought the not-knowing thing was maybe just enough to be a reason that they don’t go for it without there being some terrible ~thing~ happen for either of them. it might make it a bit boring but i felt like it worked here! them pining but also kind of knowing they like each other but also not wanting to say it? it felt right to me!

the other thing i want to mention is me not putting everything in the tags because i knew you would read them and i wanted to surprise you, i did a couple of hints to ace luke before we got there in the fic, and i thought it would be soooo fun to have jack show up out of nowhere then alex too because i thought you probably wouldn’t expect that from me!

which brings me to getaway jalex. wow. i never saw myself including jalex as a side pairing simply because i did not know enough about them but i was like i need to at least TRY and i can always scrap it if its terrible. SO i watched a few interviews, a few yt compilations. i wanted to have jack being the professor just because i thought it would be fun to have him be a bit of a menace about it? that’s why i went for him over alex. and then the dialogue was funny, i just wanted to pull a couple of things that made them convincing as i was so like ??? about characterising them, which is where obviously professor boy came from, and also the bit where jack repeats himself the “ever thought about that?” as it was something i picked up on watching stuff! and him pretending to be outraged at alex swearing was just something i saw them doing! i wanted jalex to be the epitome of what i think (and luke thought) a soulmate SHOULD be which is not necessarily desire and pining and all consuming romance but its about annoying each other and being a constant presence and understanding each other better than anyone else and casual touches. and THATS basically where the whole premise for the spin off comes from because its just a slice of life of that extreme comfort of having a person, your person in every sense of the word. we had a little conversation about getaway jalex and i genuinely was not going to write it and then i had the idea for the papers that jack could be grading and the jokes about luke and alex being lead singers and i was like AHA i’ve got it i can do this!!! and it turned into possibly the softest most romantic thing i’ve ever written which is crazy

[skambigbang]

hey, unfortunately i've not got a writer's bone in my body! can hardly string a sentence together for my life lol. i wanted to help a bit with the big bang and thought about joining as a beta, but i'm worried i'm not qualified enough. are there any specific skills required to be one? since i'm not a writer myself i'm afraid i won't be much help to a writer other than key smashes and exclamation points. but if you ever have a beta reader shortage please lmk and i'll be happy to try and help!

That is very sweet of you to want to help! I think that primarily, we want participants to have beta readers that can do a second reading of their work for any spelling or grammar issues. A writer who already has a strong sense of grammar, however, might want a beta reader for other reasons--to cheerlead, provide research help or provide additional insight. 

At the moment we are still accepting writer sign-ups until 1/21, and some of those writers already have betas they work with. We’ll have a better sense of how many betas we’ll need once we know exactly how many writers we have and who actually needs help finding a beta reader. In all likelihood, we may not need everyone who volunteers. It really depends on what people's needs are.

Besides beta-reading, there are other ways to help promote the 2021 SKAM Big Bang. Reblog, retweet or post about it. Read the stories! Reblog the art! Follow the artists and writers! Comment! Fandoms keep fanwork alive by engaging with the work, so engage away!💗

-Mod Ghostcat

[monstersinthecosmos]

🕯 and 🪄 from the writer asks?

(writing asks!)

🕯️was there a fic that was really hard on you to write, or took you to a place you didn't think it would take you?

The hardest fic on my page that I've written was as we circle the moon because like !!!!!! I signed up to write it for the Femsheith exchange and then like, my grandma was sick and I was doing a lot of family shit and didn't have a ton of time to work on it, and originally I wanted it to be a one shot but I felt bad that I was gonna miss the posting deadline so I split it into chapters and at least posted a chapter, and then my grandma died, and then like, no one really responded to that fic so I was having a really hard time working on it.

I'll preach till I'm blue in the face that like, we have to be able to write for US because relying on external validation is such a motivation killer, but like, I was just not feeling myself and had no inspiration to write for me, and then like, usually for my Sheith fics I have a cheerleader who can read my WIP and encourage me when I think I'm being boring but my go-to Sheith cheerleaders don't like Femsheith so I had no one to help me with this, and then like, it got two comments so I just felt like it wasn't a good fic and no one liked it, and so I didn't feel motivated to update it for the readers either, and the fact that no one responded to it made me think it was poorly written and didn't make sense, and then I was convinced that all my ideas for it were stupid and didn't make sense, and I thought the gender studying in it didn't make sense, and basically, it was torture trying to finish that one but I'm traumatized by my FFnet page when I was a teenager that had like 35 unfinished fics posted, so I refused to leave fics unfinished, and I forced myself to get it done.

Whew. LOL.

And anyway that's a lot of technical stuff but also since the fic is about grief and I was writing it during the death of a family member it got a little spicy on my feelings. LOL. And it's a fic that like, in the end, I'm not sure if the meta makes sense, but I was juggling a lot of messy feelings so I decided it's okay if the fic was also about messy feelings with no real conclusion.

🪄what is your post-writing/sharing aftercare? How do you take care of yourself or celebrate yourself when you've finished a fic?

hajslgd dsjakg so usually when I'm in the zone I write EVERY NIGHT (but I'm having an ADHD burnout crisis at the moment so I havent written in weeks lol RIP i hate myself) and like it's a thing where I feel bad if I take a night off? But whenever I finish a fic I like, allow myself a night off, and I just kinda chill out and daydream about the next thing I wanna write. It's so fun! It's so relaxing!!! :D Sometimes when I've spent months on a fic I like, feel empty and miss spending time with it, so it helps me to immediately jump to the next project and start daydreaming about a new idea so that I can stay excited.